Satara: All the sugar mills, except Sahyadri sugar mill, completed the cane crushing for this season, but not a single mill has paid the total (Fair and Remunerative Price) FRP to the sugarcane farmers in Satara. They, however, have paid the first installment to the farmers.
15 sugar mills from the district had produced over 1 crore 1 lakh quintal sugar by crushing 84.79 lakh tonne sugarcane. Average recovery in the district has been reported at 11.94 per cent. Following the excess sugar production, the millers failed to clear FRP at one go and opted for 80-20 formula and paid 80 per cent as the first installment.
Concerned over mounting cane arrear, the government hiked the minimum selling price of sugar by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 31 to help millers clear farmers’ dues. But inspite of that millers failed to pay full FRP to cane growers as they cited their inability to clear pending dues of farmers due to the low demand in the market and excess sugar production.
